FA Cup Second Qualifying Round:
Anstey Nomads 1 (Robinson 43)
Ilkeston Town 1 (O’Grady 76)
by Mark Duffy
We’ll have to do it all again in the FA Cup on Tuesday night following a draw in Leicestershire on Saturday.
The hosts made life tough for us all afternoon and led at half-time, but Chris O’Grady’s fine equaliser earned us another shot at reaching the third qualifying round.
Montel Gibson put an early opening too high as we started on the front foot, before an error by Saul Deeney allowed Corey Armeni to volley wide from distance 14 minutes in.
Kieran Fenton then had a chance to bend one of his free-kicks into the top corner but struck the top of the crossbar, Harry Wakefield then forcing a fine block at the other end as Anstey responded well.
Michael Reeve then flicked a header too high for the hosts, Gibson cutting inside and seeing his effort deflected wide on 25 as we continued to search for a way through, the same player nodding the subsequent corner wide at the back post.
Reeve again went close, shooting straight at Deeney on 27, Nomads certainly giving as good as they got in the early stages.
And they would get the lead on 43 minutes, as we failed to deal with a cross into the box – Marshall Willock seemingly having his shirt pulled in the process – and the ball fell to Armeni whose shot took a huge deflection off the backside of team-mate Freddie Robinson to wrong foot Deeney and find the net.
It took until 63 minutes of the second-half for the first real chance to come, Omotolani Omotola released on the edge of the penalty area but Deeney getting down well to block the shot.
Joe Wilson volleyed too high after a Billy Bennett cross was cleared to him as we tried to force a leveller on 75, and it would then finally arrive a minute later.
O’Grady had only been on the pitch for six minutes, but when the ball was cleared to him 25 yards out he beat his man then drilled the ball into the corner of Conrad Logan’s net.
We then lost fellow sub Ben O’Hanlon with a suspected achilles injury, meaning we’d play the remainder of the game with ten men.
Gibson forced a good save low down from Logan on 89 as we prepared to enter six minutes of stoppage time, and we then had a goal disallowed for an apparent foul on the goalkeeper before Fenton knocked the ball in from close range.
A counter following an Anstey corner then saw Gibson run 70 yards before firing over the crossbar, and that would be the last opening as the two sides were left destined to meet again on Tuesday night.
Anstey: Logan, Bayliss, Wolfe, Annable, Gibbens, Robinson, Armeni, Snaith (Blackshaw 82), Reeve, Wakefield (Hollis 82), Omotola (Clarke 86)
Not used: Richardson, Storey
Ilkeston: Deeney, Wilson, Bennett, Solanke (Thomas 46), Willock, Fenton, Eratt-Thompson (O’Grady 70), Troke, Campbell, Gibson, Brown-Hill (O’Hanlon 54)
Not used: Turner, Bukowski